By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright AMC
I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.
“Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive survive.”
Through season 4 of the Walking Dead we were teased with signs along a railway track urging the characters to come to Terminus. Our group had been split apart after the Governor attacked the prison scattering everyone. Daryl had hooked up with a violent gang, Carol had been exiled to fend for herself and Rick, Michonne and Carl were lost. But all through the episodes, there was the call of Terminus, a seeming haven for the wandering. But sadly it was but a siren call to certain death.
As our characters reunited they all entered Terminus which seemed friendly at first. Mary (Denise Crosby) was cooking a barbeque and they were welcomed by the leader of Terminus, Gareth. But things quickly descended into terror when it became clear that whoever had written the sign missed a bit off the end.
Sanctuary for all, community for all, those who arrive, survive (for a few hours before being BBQed by Mary and served in a bun with relish).
Yep, our friendly neighbourhood Terminus gang were cannibals and travellers were the menu.
When Rick, Carl, Daryl and Michonne finally arrive they see a woman broadcasting a message to come to Terminus. At first Gareth seems friendly asking if Rick and the others have come to rob them. Their weapons are inspected and Gareth would like to ask questions just to ensure everyone’s mutual safety. However Rick spots one of Terminus people with a fob watch he knows very well. It belonged to Hershel who bequeathed it to Glenn before he was killed by the Governor.
The tables turn quickly as they run from Gareth and his crew only to be cornered and thrown into a train car where they find all the others.
It turns out that Terminus did once stand for sanctuary and they helped many people at the beginning of the zombie plague. When marauders invaded, they raped the women, murdered people and imprisoned the Terminus people in the same cars they now stash their food source. However Gareth and his friends fought back and took their home back again. They vowed no one would ever hurt them going forward. This new world does not have a place for kindness and compassion so they went down the dark path. Terminus would survive. They would stay within the walls, watchful for new arrivals who would be slaughtered and served up as sustenance. Never again would they have to venture out for food runs. While the world devoured itself Terminus would survive and thrive amid the chaos.
As season five opens, our heroes are prisoners and we get to see how the people that come here are killed. They are bound and gagged and kneel before a trough. Terminus people then strike them on the back of the head with a bat, stunning them before cutting their throats like pigs at the abattoir.
It is this scene that is the most telling about Gareth and how much he has moved from the generous man he once was. He is completely nonchalant about the way these people are being killed. He squats down before a bound Rick flicking through a notebook. He is in a position of absolute power now and his arrogance shines through. He questions Rick about the bag he has hidden somewhere and what it contains. Rick holds his stare and tells him about the weapons. He also mentions that it contains a machete with a red handle which he is going to use to kill Gareth. Little did they know that Carol was in fact outside about to blow up the gas tanks to destroy the fences and allow the zombie herd in to Terminus. Bob demands to speak and tries to reason with Gareth but to no avail.
The explosion distracts the guards allowing Rick and the others to escape. Gareth flees and with Terminus gone, he returns with some survivors when he kidnaps Bob right from under Rick’s nose. Bob awakes to find his leg amputated but he has the last laugh. He has been bitten and Gareth and co have been eating tainted meat. They try to attack Father Gabriel’s church where Rick’s people are but it is a trap. Gareth is forced to his knees and pleads for his life. Just as his experience left him hard nosed, so too is Rick. He and the others have no problem shooting down Gareth’s people without hesitation even when they threaten to fire into the back room containing Carl and Judith.
Gareth offers to leave and promises they will never meet again. But Rick doesn’t accept that. No matter where Gareth and his cronies go they will feed on people. He reminds Gareth how he said he was going to kill him and pulls out the machete with the red handle. Rick viciously hacks Gareth to death ending Terminus and its sick legacy once and for all.
Some would say that the people of Terminus were simply victims of trauma and reacting just as this new world dictated. If the dead were eating the living then it makes sense for the future for the living to eat the living. It is never clear if any of the existing Terminus inhabitants were from the original settlers or other travellers that liked the life Terminus offered them with no qualms about cannibalism.
But with everything they have been through Rick and the others have never fallen to this level of barbarism. Even when they were on their knees with hunger and Daryl wept at not being able having to eat worms, they were saved only when Sasha shot a pack of wild dogs. That was what kept them alive before they found Alexandria. But on the flip side, you never know how you are going to react in any given situation as the movie Alive demonstrated. There but for the grace of God as they say. We don’t know what depravities Gareth and the others were exposed to when Terminus was invaded. We only got a taste of it. and what psychological damage was done. Were their minds broken? Was it a case of survival of the fittest that the course of cannibalism was taken?
Gareth was literally on the show for a few episodes but the impact of Terminus will last forever.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 